The configuration of a communication system which comprises a plurality of nodes and servers, and in particular nodes and servers which are organised into clusters, is a complex task. For example, the updating of a service oriented behaviour usually requires some parameters to be configured in each node of the communication system. This not only causes long maintenance windows for such updates, but is also prone to error.
Furthermore, in existing communication systems the application nodes and configuration servers are usually tightly coupled or closely related, which means that it is difficult to support dynamic scaling-out for business needs. It is difficult to make a configuration change on all nodes of a cluster, or on all clusters in a system. It is also difficult to ensure configuration consistency between various nodes of a cluster, or between multiple clusters.